How to breathe to fall asleep

What breathing can and can't do

Breathing doesn't put you to sleep. What it does is give your attention something quiet and repetitive to rest on while your body settles. Sleep shows up by itself or it doesn't, and chasing it tends to push it away.

The evidence is limited. A small 2015 study measured the sleep of 14 people with insomnia in a lab. On nights when they breathed slowly for 20 minutes before bed, at about six breaths a minute, they fell asleep sooner and woke up less often. That's far too few people to draw conclusions from.

In 2019, an opinion piece in a psychiatry journal proposed slow breathing as an add-on to good sleep habits, not a replacement for them. Its own authors acknowledge that research on the question is very limited.

A ten-minute routine

• Set everything up before you get into bed: lights low, phone brightness all the way down, your pattern already chosen.
• Lie on your back or your side, whichever is comfortable. Rest a hand on your belly if that helps you feel it.
• Breathe normally for a minute. Just notice the pace you're arriving with.
• Start the pattern and follow it by sound, without looking at the screen. Breathe in through your nose, gently. Let the exhale run longer than the inhale.
• If your mind wanders, come back at the next exhale. You don't have to do it well.
• When it ends, drop the count and breathe however you breathe. If you fall asleep before the end, even better.

Which pattern to choose

All of these are slow, with a longer exhale. Start with the first one, and switch only if it still doesn't suit you after several nights.

• 4-6 breathing: in for 4, out for 6. The simplest. Five minutes.
• Lengthening breath: starts at 4 and 6, and the exhale grows little by little up to 10 seconds. Eight minutes.
• Slowing down: starts close to your pace right now, in for 3 and out for 4, and gets slower every few cycles. Good if you get into bed with your breathing still revved up. Ten minutes.
• 4-7-8 breathing: in for 4, hold for 7, out through the mouth for 8. Four cycles are enough. It includes a breath hold, so it isn't for everyone: if holding your breath is uncomfortable, stay with 4-6.

If you wake up in the middle of the night

Leave the screen off. Do 4-6 breathing from memory: count to 4 as you breathe in and to 6 as you breathe out, no precision required. Or count only your exhales, from one to ten, then start over.

If a good while goes by and you're still wide awake, don't lie there fighting it. The UK's National Health Service (NHS) advises going to bed only when you feel sleepy. Get up, do something quiet in dim light, and go back when sleepiness returns.

The habits that matter more

No breathing pattern makes up for a day that works against sleep. These recommendations come from the CDC and the NHS:

• Go to bed and get up at the same time every day.
• Keep your bedroom quiet, dark and cool.
• Turn off screens at least 30 minutes before bedtime.
• Skip caffeine in the afternoon and evening, and avoid large meals and alcohol close to bedtime.
• Get some movement during the day.

When to get professional help

This page supports a practice. It can't tell you why you're sleeping badly. Talk to a health professional if you've had trouble sleeping for months, if changing your habits hasn't helped, or if poor sleep is making your days hard to manage. Insomnia has well-studied treatments, such as cognitive behavioral therapy, and a professional is the one to recommend them.

Check in as well if you snore loudly, if someone notices your breathing stopping and starting while you sleep, if you wake up gasping or choking, or if you're very sleepy during the day. Those are signs worth having looked at, and a breathing exercise won't resolve them.